Should State Police Chief Armands Ruks resign after an off-duty police officer fatally assaulted a man during the Priekule City Festival while intoxicated, and just days later another police officer, with a blood alcohol level of 3.18 per mille, crashed her car into a ditch, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene? Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava has ordered an internal service investigation into Ruks, while the police chief has said he has no intention of stepping down. BNN asked political analyst Filips Rajevskis, co-owner of the media company Mediju tilts, whether Ruks should remain in office.
“People want to feel safe, and the police are one of the most important institutions responsible for ensuring that sense of security. They are essential to maintaining public confidence. Incidents like these seriously damage the reputation of the police,” Rajevskis said. At the same time, he cautioned against immediately demanding the police chief’s resignation. “I am not going to be the one judging the police chief’s performance in this case. That should be done by the minister, who has already launched an evaluation process, and by those whose responsibility it is to assess the situation. What is clear is that this government is expected to take a different approach. The tragedy in Priekule and the incident involving the intoxicated police officer behind the wheel suggest that internal changes and reforms are needed within the State Police.”
Asked by BNN whether public confidence in the police has for years been undermined by a widespread perception that the force responds too slowly to residents’ complaints and tends to protect its own officers when misconduct occurs, Rajevskis replied that people’s opinions are largely shaped by personal experience.
“Fortunately, not everyone has to deal with the police in their everyday lives.
But every negative experience is shared with relatives, friends and acquaintances. That is how a reputation is formed. If someone has had a bad experience, you cannot simply tell them it was an isolated incident and that everything is actually fine. Negative publicity comes both from the media and from word of mouth. That does the police no favours and shows that something has to change if public trust is to improve.”
Rajevskis stressed that the police, like the armed forces, are a strictly organised hierarchical institution. “The ultimate responsibility rests with the leader. He is the commander who is accountable for the actions of his subordinates. Anyone leading such a hierarchical organisation has to accept that responsibility.”
Another major issue dominating headlines this week is the government’s approval of airBaltic’s new business plan, which, to paraphrase Mark Twain, means that reports of the Latvian national airline’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
According to Rajevskis,
there is now broad agreement that it is important for airBaltic to continue operating
and for Latvia to retain the airline’s main base. The next step, he said, is to find an investor. “We know that Lithuania and Estonia have already been discussing in the media what they would do if airBaltic were to stop flying to Tallinn and Vilnius. This also creates a good opportunity for negotiations with our Lithuanian and Estonian partners. If the airline requires state support, Latvian taxpayers should not be paying for flights used by passengers in Estonia and Lithuania. I hope that will be taken into account when decisions are made about airBaltic’s future.”
He added that the recent change of government and the appointment of new officials responsible for the airline could prove beneficial. “In my view, fresh leadership brings a fresh perspective on airBaltic. I hope this government’s decisions will prove more successful in the long term and that the airline will require less money from taxpayers. I am confident that nobody is going to let airBaltic collapse or push it into bankruptcy. I believe a solution will be found, and in the long run it will benefit everyone.”
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